Stooking-machine elevator



April 29, ,1924;

N. H. CAUFIELD sTooxING MACHINE ELEvAToR Filed NOV. l0. 1922 2 Sheets-Shet 1 April 29 1924.

I I I I I I I l I I I I I I l Filed Nov. 1o 1922 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented pr, 29, 1924.

NORMANHOWARD CAUFIELD, VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA,.CANADA. l

. STOOKINGQMACHINE ELEVATOR.

@yucatan mea november 1o, 1922. serial No. 500,163.

To all whom, it may concern."

Be it known that I, NomrAN HOWARD CA'UFIELD, a subjectof the Kino' of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have in vented certain new and usef ful Improvements y,in Stocking-.Machine Ele-` i viators, of which the followingL is a specification. f 'y My invention relates to'improvements ,in stocking machine elevators, and the object of my invention is to provide a device of this character by means of which the sheaves may be transferred from the binder to the stooker automatically and in a simple, practical, and highly efficient manner. A further object is 4to provide for the automatic stoppage of the device whenl'thestooker basket is loaded and dun'iping and itsfautomatic restarting to load the ybasket after dumping.

I attain these objects by the. construction illustrated inl the accompanying.drawings in whichf ,t

VF ig. 1 is a side elevationof the elevator injassembled position.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1.

vFig. B is aside elevation of the elevator starting and stopping4 clutch.

Fig. 4 is anv end view of Fig. 3.

Similar figures of reference indicate simii lar parts throughout the several views.

While the device now to be described may be applied to other stooking machines it is primarily vintended to be usedin combination with the machiney fully described and illustrated in my pendingapplication for Letters Patent of the United States filed June 2nd, 1922, under Serial No.f565,347, to which reference may be had if desired. t

In the present drawings 1 indicates the horizontal U-shaped frame of the stocking machine structure provided on the side nearest the binder with the traction wheel 2 to which is secured a sprocket 3 chain-connected to a sprocket 4 rotatably mounted on `a shaft 5 rotatably mounted in a bearing secured to the frame and this sprocket 4 is provided with a clutch 7 and is capable of being engaged to the shaft 5 to rotate the same by means of suitable mechanismassociated with theclutch 7, a full description of which will be found in the application Serial No. 565,047, on page 3. For the purpose of this present specification, however, it will only be necessary to understand that the shaft 5 starts torot-ate concurrently with the setting in motion of the stooker basket and continues to rotate throughout the completebasket movement.

Rotatably mounted in bearings 8 and 9 mounted on a frame 10 rigidly secured tov the stocker frame 1 betweenit and the binder is a shaft 11 which extends at right angles to the stooker, which shaft is provided at the stocker end with a loose sprocket 12 around which the ychain 13 passes, this chain being one which connects the stooker sprockets 3 and 4, from which it will be seen that the sprocket r12 rotates concurrently with sprockets Sand 4.

The outer, or binder, end of the shaft 11 is provided with a bevel gear 14 meshing with a bevel gear 15 secured to the end of a4 shaft 16 rotatably mounted in bearingsl 17 and 18 secured to the frame 10, which shaft extends at right angles to ythe shaft 11 and is parallel to the stocker frame. Secured to the kshaft 16 adjacent its opposite ends are sprockets y19 and 20 around which are passed endless link-belt chains 21 and 22, these chains being inclined upwardly and extending to a point above the level of the stooker baskety and slightly beyond the inner side plate y2S of the basket, the inner and outer side plates of the basket being indicated in this case by the numerals 23 and 24, and the ,bottom plate by the numeral 25. chains at their upper endsare passed over sprockets 26 and 27 secured to a shaft 28 rotatablymounted in bearingsL 29 and 30 erected on and secured to the stocker frame. Extending between and connecting the chains together at suitably spaced intervals are transverse slats 31,32, and 83, eac-hof which slats is provided with a plurality of hooks 34, from which itfwill be seen that a conveyor or elevator is formed by the chains, slats, and hooks and that, as the lower end of this elevator lies in closeproximity to the binder platform, indicated by the numeral 35, sheaves delivered on to the platform will be kcaught by the moving hooks and carried up to be discharged at the upper end of the elevato-r into the stocker basket.

In order to provide Jfor ythe automatic. sto-pping of the elevator just described when the basket isdumping and its automatic restarting to load the basket again after emptying the loose sprocket 12 on the shaft 11 is provided on its outer face witlrthe female portion 36 ofl a jaw Clutch. the male portion 37 of which is slidably connected to the shaft and rotatable with it, and between the outer end of this male clutch portion and a collar 38 vspaced apart from it, the collar being secured to the shaft, is a coil spring 39, as shown. A clutch lever 40 is provided the lower end of which is disposed in the groove of the male clutch portion while its upper end is connected to a crank 41 secured to the outer end of the stooker shaft 5 on the stocker. The lower end 42 of the clutch lever is tapered on one side so that a wedge 43 is formedv the taper of which is complementary to the taper ofthe face of a collar 44 seated in the clutch groove, and the tapered face of the wedge 43 moves on the face of the collar 44, that is, it is normally in contact with it, during operation, which is as follows: The sheaf-receiving basket of the stooker, indicated generally by the letter A, being empty and in the receiving position, the clutch is in engagement so that the shaft llrotates thus rotating sha-ft 16 and operating the elevator to elevate the sheaves from the binder and drop them into the basket. The crank 41 is then at the bottom of its down stroke and consequently the wedge 43 is also at the lowest point of travel, the thick end being downmost, as shown in Fig. 1. As soon as the stooker basket isv full it is set in motion to effect tilting and dumping in the manner described in the application hereinbefore referred to, Serial No. 565,347, so that the crank 41 commences rotating, since shaft 5 then rotates. On the upstroke of crank 41 the clutch lever and wedge 43 are drawn upwardly so that the. male clutch portion 37 is moved away from the female portion until when the crank reaches the end of its upstroke, which is coincident with the arrival of the basket in the dumping position, the male clutch portion is fully disengaged from the femaleportion and the shaft 11 ceases rotation, with consequent stoppage of the elevator. The spring 39 is lthen under tension. The sha-ft 5 and crank 41 continuing to rotate the clutch leverv is thenmoved downwardly, depressing the wedge, so that the male portion of the clutch is gradually moved into re-engagement .with the female portion by the spring 39 so that when the basket arrives at the sheaf-receiving position again the conveyor is operating and the clutch fully re-engaged, while the hooks 34 are so positioned that theV re-delivery of the sheaves into the basket is commenced in the minimum of time after commencement of the elevator operation.

F rom the foregoing it will be seen thatI have provided a simple elevating device for transferring sheaves from the binder to the stooker, which is highly efiicient and of great utility.

What I claim as my invention is ze,

1. The combination with a stocking machine, having a basket tiltable from a sheafreceiving position to a dumping position and returnable to the normal sheaf-receiving position, the operating mechanism thereof, and a binding machine, of a sheaf-elevator disposed betweenthe stocker and the binder, said elevator comprising travelling chains extending from the binder sheaf-delivery platform to a point above the level of the stocker basket, said chains being provided with hook members adapted toen-v gage under a sheaf on the said platform, mechanism for operating said chains, a continuously operating sprocket;v included in the stooker operating mechanism, and means for connecting saidsprocket and the chain operating mechanism when the basket is in the normal sheaf-receiving position and for disconnecting them when the basket is in the dumping position.

2. The combination with a `stocking machine, having a basket tiltable from a sheaf.-

receiving position to a dumping positionv and vreturnable to the normal sheaf-receiving position, the operating mechanism thereof, anda binding machine, of a sheaf elevator disposed between the stooker` and the binder, said elevator comprising travelling chains extending from the binder sheaf-delivery platform to a point above the level of the stocker basket, said chains being provided with hook members adapted to engage under a shear' on the said platform, mechanism for operating said chains, a continuously operating sprocket included in the stockerl operating mechanism, and automatic means for connecting said sprocket and the chain operating mechanism when the basket is in the normal sheaf-receiving position and for disconnectingthem when the basket is in the dumping position.

3. The combination with a stocking machine, the operating mechanism thereof, and a binding machine, of a sheaf elevator disposed between the stooker and the binder,- said elevator comprising a rotatably mounted shaft extending at right angles to the stooker provided adjacent the stooker end with a slidable male clutch portion and at its opposite end with abevel gear, a transverse shaft rotatably mounted inc-lose proximity y the chains each slat being provided with hook members adapted to engage under a sheaf on the said binder platform, a continuously operating sprocket included in the stocker operating mechanism provided with an integral female clutch portion complementary to the male Clutch portion aforesaid and engageable therewith, and means for connecting and disconnecting said male and female clutch portions.

4. The combination with a stocking machine, the operating mechanism thereof, and a binding machine, of a sheaf elevator disposed between' the stooker and the binder, said elevator comprising a rotatably mounted shaft extending at right angles to the stooker provided adjacent the stooker end with a slidable male clutch portion and at its opposite end with a bevel gear, said shaft having a collar secured thereto spaced behind the clutch and a spring between the clutch and the collar, a transverse shaft rotatably mounted in close proximity to the binder sheaf-delivery platform having a bevel gear in mesh with the gear aforesaid, a pair of sprockets secured to said transverse shaft towards each end thereof, a shaft rotatably mounted on the stooker frame above the level of the basket parallel to said transverse shaft and having a pair of sprockets secured thereon towards each opposite end thereof and in alignment respectively with the transverse shaft sprockets, a chain passed around each pair of sprockets, hooks carried by said chains adapted to engage under a sheaf on the said platform, a

. continuously operating sprocket included in the stocker operating mechanism provided with an integral female clutch portion complementary to the male clutch portion aforesaid and engageable therewith, a crank included in the stooker operating mechanism and operative concurrently therewith, and a clutch lever connected at one end to said crank and having its opposite end formed as a wedge shaped jaw engaging in the groove of the said male clutch portion whereby movement of the jaw in opposite directions permits respectively engagement of the male clutch portion and the female clutch portion under extension of the said spring or disengages them.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature at Victoria, B. C., Canada, this th day of October, 1922.

NORMAN HO'VVARD C'AUFIELD. 

